Growth of Native Oxide and Accumulation of Organic Matter on Bare Si Wafer in Air

Abstract

This letter reports the effect of organic matter on the growth of native oxide on a Si surface. Bare Si wafers and Si wafers with native oxide were stored under various conditions in a clean room and the thickness of native oxide was examined. In the case of the bare Si wafers, the native oxide hardly grew in a closed system but the native oxide grew to 6 Å in an open system when the storage time was 24 h. On the other hand, in the case of Si wafers with native oxide, this suggests that accumulation of organic matter occurs on Si wafers in the open system in the clean room. It was suggested that the accumulation of organic matter on Si wafers facilitates the growth of native oxide.

Determination of surface recombination velocity and bulk lifetime in detector grade silicon and germanium crystals

“…The growth of the native oxide on silicon surfaces at room temperature under atmospheric conditions after dilute HF etching has generated great interest recently from the silicon industry, because the thin native oxide films (10-50 A) influence the growth of high quality epitaxial silicon [9][10][11][12]. The well studied thennodynamics which control the growth of thennal oxide on silicon is inadequate in describing the kinetics of native oxide growth [9].…”

“…The well studied thennodynamics which control the growth of thennal oxide on silicon is inadequate in describing the kinetics of native oxide growth [9]. Several investigators have used ellipsometry to measure the growth rate of the native oxide on silicon [9,[11][12][13] and they have found that the oxide grows logarithmically with time on a freshly etched Si surface, saturating at a thickness of approximately 10-50 A over a 24 hour period, depending on ambient conditions. The growth of native oxide is associated with the creation of surface states due to breakage of Si-Si and Si-H bonds in favor of the fonnation of Si-O and Si-OH bonds [10].…”

Effect of a vacuum ion gauge on the contamination of a hydrogen-passivated silicon surface

“…However, the H-passivated surface is subject to carbonaceous ͑C͒ contamination following degradation of the H-terminated surface, in contrast to an oxidepassivated surface of the conventional technique. 5,6 The factor of most concern in contamination is the residence time of a wafer in a nonideal environment. The nonideal environment consists of relatively high background gas pressure and other contamination sources such as an improper chemical solution, etc.…”

“…The nonideal environment consists of relatively high background gas pressure and other contamination sources such as an improper chemical solution, etc. 1,2,5,6 In addition, the effect of the vacuum ion gauge on the contamination should be considered since the vacuum ion gauge has been reported as a possible surface contamination source during a spectroscopic analysis. 7 The ion gauge is one of the most frequently used vacuum gauges in high vacuum or UHV apparatuses.…”

<title>In-situ wafer contamination detection through rf-PCD Measurements</title>

“…It was concluded from contact resistance measurements [6] that wafer transport in air has a detrimental effect on the contact resistance, compared to a nitrogen ambient. Several studies suggest that a passivated silicon surface will only degrade slowly in clean room atmosphere [7][8][9]. No change in surface passivation was found in the first 10 minutes of exposure.…”